Method of and means for supporting electric conductors



7- P.H.1HOMAS.

METHOD OF AND'MEANS FOR SUPPORTING ELECTRIC CONDUCTORS. nvrucmou mco nov. 1. m4.

1,326,307. l'utontml 1m. 30.1mm. 3 bunch-MILL! l 5] nue ntoz,

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D55 Z P. a. THOMAS.

METHOD on AM) Mums ron SUPPORHNG mcrmc CONDUCTOHS.

armcmou man nov. 2. m4.

1,326,307. Patented Dec. 30,1919.

3 SHEETS-SHEET 2.

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METHOD OE'AND MEANS FOR SUPPORTING ELECTRIC CONDUCTO'RS.

APPLICATION FILED NOV-1. 1914.

1,326,307. Patented Dec. 30,1919

3 SHEETSSHEEY 3.

1 9.1; M \I Y 4 anoewboz acitizen of the United and a resident of Upper Montclair, county of Essex,

. vention will be seen byreferenoe to the sevquantities at high voltage,

amount of W i I ATE OFFICE;

1 a renown. mon es,

learner or m MEANS ron To may concern:

Beit known .that 1,..Pnucr H. Tum-ms, States of America,

State of New Jersey, have invented certain.- new, and useful Improvements in Methods of and MeansforSupgrt'ing Electric Conductors. of which the llowmg is a. spewification.-

In transmissionlines designed for the power in large it has been customary to support the electric conductors on what are known as suspension insulators"; that is to say, the conductor is hung below a rigid support, such as a cross-arm. by means of some. insulating device having transmision of electric suflicient strength to sustain the conductor .Wlllle free to move or swing in any direction as the .wind or other forces may drive or..pull the conductor. This method possesses a. number of great advantages and some disadvantages, among-the latter being the neee$ity of building excessively high or towers in or-' and. wide supporting poles dertoget the necessary electrical clearance between the-conductorsand the tower itself.

. One of the objects of'my invention is to provide means of insulating support which does not require so higher wide a tower as-the -usual' multiple unit suspension insulator.

My invention also possesses other advantages such as reliability. low cost and a certain flexibility, both in a direction transversely and longitudinally of'the line.

These and other valuable features of my ineral figures of the accompanying drawings and the: description thereof My invention will also be better understood when taken in connection; with the disclosures of my coending a plications for patents. Serial No.

67,995yfi ed May 16, 1913, and Serial No.

it 787,24 .filed. August 29, 19.13, which show a number of forms of 'nsnlators suitable for use with my present invention.

" In the following I have described. in connection with the accompanying drawings.

several illustrative means of practising my invention together with certain modifications.

orjurrnn MONTGL-AIB, NEW JERSEY.

Specification 0t Letters Patent.

SUPPORTING ELECTRIC CONDUCTOBS.

Patented Dec. 30, 1919.

In the drawings Figure 1 is an elevation of a double insulator, parts being broken away and parts being shown in section Figs. '2 and 3 are respectively plan views of cooperating connecting means ends of the insulator elements shown in Fig. 1; Fig. 4 is an elevation of the lower end of a single insulator, the upper part being broken away; Fig. 5 is an elevation'of the lower end of a double insulator, the up er part being broken away, showing a mod i ration of the connecting means between the two insulators; Fig. (3 is a diagrammatieal view showing the lines of stramwhen the insulator shown in Fig. 1 isumder tension, the full lines showing the strain lines when the'parts are under vertical tension and the dotted lines showingthe strain lines when the parts are under side tension; Fig. 7 is a diagrammatical view showing a modification in the means of imaging the insulators shown in Fig. 1 and the result in case of a break of-one of the two insulators as hereinafter set forth; Fig. 8 is an elevation of for the inner the upper end of an insulator and supporting means, the lower part being broken away. showing! one way of adapting the principle of my inventionin turning corners; F igs. 9 and 10 are views similaryto Fig. 8 'but'showing modifications of the broad idea; Fig. '11 is an elevatio'n, arts being broken away, showihg amodi form of my invention in which the insulators are arranged so as to prevent side'swinglng; Fig. 12 is a side view of the pper ortion of the vertical insulator shov n in ig; 11, parts being broken away,

pension means; Fig. 13 is a view on the somewhat smaller. scale) shqwm a. modification of theancans illustrated in Fig. 11. Figs.v 14. 15 and 16 are views of another modification shown on asmaller scale. Fig.

showing the sus- 10. the res Referring now to Fig. 1, I show a double insulator comprising two multiple insulators 1 and 2 for supporting the conductor 3 from the cross-arm 4. Each of the insula- 5 tors comprisese two insulating elements 5, 5, but more or less may be used as desired. Each element ronsists of a tube of porcer lai'ii .or equivalentinsulator having a metal cap cemented on each end. The caps on ective ends difier in .shape from each 01; ml, the caps (3,6, at the outer ends of therespective. elements, each being provided with a )rojecting eye 7 to receive the v l J.-l: olts 8 at t 1e top and to receive the eyes 9' of the link 10 at the bottom, while the caps at the inner ends of the respective elements are adapted to be connected together byineans of bolts 11'. 11, supported loosely in o'holes 12 in cars 13 ofcap 14, and extending to ooiiperate with slots .15 in cars 16 on "cap 17,'the holtsbeingdrawn up conveniently'to bolt the adjacent insulator elements together. TheJU-holts S are screw threaded and provided with nuts .18, 18, to hold the eyes 7 of the cups 6 in place when the insulator is under compression strain. 19, 19, serve tohold the U-bolts in place on the cross-arm 4'. The link 10 carries at its center point a.U-holt 20, held against morement thereon by nuts 21. 22: the U-holt carry- 1 ing 'conductoror cable clamp 23, which lat- 'ter: grips the vconductor-by means of cover plate 24. The clamp '23 is loosely hung in U-bolt 20 asshown.

is operating, the insulators remain in the position shown in Fig. 1, the weight being equally divided between the two insulators 1 and 2 and the line o'fstrain being that 40. shown in full lines-in Fig. 6. When, however, there is i added to the -Weightof the conductor a' heary wind pressure on one side of the conductor, the coni tlnctorwilltend to move to yield to said pressure. Let us assume the pressure comes i 'frorri the left in F 1. 'In this case the lightlla'nd insul'at-orQ will be thrown into :eompression while the left hand insulator 1 will be intension the tendency being as .shown in dotted -lines in Fig. (i. but, because of-z'the meth'odiof suspension-and thev means I .i'disclosed, the" conductor 3 will not be permitted: to-move-more than a short. distance 1 iO dllti iright, 'far :loss than would be the 6R case were six-single 'insuiatorused alone to 1 suspend the conductor. This decided de-- crease iniside movement is'of great advan- .-":ta,e;e in translnissiondine work since it per-- J'=mit.s the ."eutting down ofclearances and 60 hence'the sizes of towers and widths of right of way. 1

1 Iheconstruction above described also has -"-.many advantages. Since in view of the con{ ip siderable diameter of the insulator elements Nuts Vhcn'the weight of the conducton 3 only other hand the conductor -used to connect the insulators and to carry theiconductor. This link moreover permits a certain freedom of movement between the insulators and by hanging the conductorelan'ip '23 a 'definitedistance below a line pasing through the eyes 7., 7, of lower caps 6, 6, the point of equilibrium of the conductor for a resultant pull or pressure on the conductor in any particular directioii may be determined. This is illustrated in Fig. (i, wherein,- as above set forth, the full lines represent the action of the weight of the cable alone, lines 25 and 26 representing thecenter lines of the insulators 1 and 2 and the arrows representing the directioii of the stresses excited by them. The triangle 27 represents the link 10.:mdthe U-bolt 20 and the arrow 28 the. direction of weight of'the conductor. The dotted lines .in big. 6 represent the stresses excited when the conductor is deflected by wind pressure, for example. 31 represents the direction of the resultant, pull or pressure on theconductor due to the weight of the conductor and the wind and lines 29 and 30 indicate the resultant position of the insulators 1 and,2, while 32 is the position, t.ake|'\ by the-link 10. In this position of equilibrium themoment of the pull .31 about the link atthc bottom of insulator 1 (line 29) will be equalaud opposite to the moment of the force at the bottom of insulator 2 (line 30), now in compression, about the same. point. It --will he observed-that as the direction of the resultant pull 31 changes, thepoint of equilibrium will change though the change will be small; By varying the depth of the triangle 27 (01".32) the amount of swingpcis mitted may be controlled. Thearesultant effect is a certain cushioning of the.'swinging of the conductor, together with a sub stantial prevention of side motion of the conductor.

Again, the insulators are perfectly free to swing: in the direction of the line in case of breaking of the conductor. In such case the conductor clam a will merely tilt in its saddle and the insu ators will still be under simple tension stress equally divided. on the should v one of the insulators break, theother will carry the conductor and revent accident. In this latter, case the -holt 20 will ermit the conductor clamp to swing freely w men the link lOdropsai Should break simultaneously with or subsequently. to the breaking of-one of the insulators, the peculiar constnlctionmf the link 10 and clamp 23 is such :that -nqybending said connection erfectly flexible or bending moment can be introduced by the movements .of'thla insulator or conductor. The construction of the Ubolt '8, at the top Slig. 1) in cojnnection with nuts 18, 18, and t e mounting or. yes .7,-7, therein, renders with the linew ile ermitting it to take compression stramnit iout yiel mg. a

'Incaseitisso desired the link ma be bolted firmly to be so constructed "as ,to,

. both of thelower'eapst, 6,"of the insulators 1,2, as -shown in F 1g. 5. Insuohcase the 7 on the caps 6, ,6, are replaced lowers es 7 y link 10, which by flanges 33, 33, to. which the may, be in the form of a bolted. The plate; 34 carries the U-bolt to supportthe conductor clam as before.

Thebearings atthe tors in this modification top ends 0 the insulahould bein line horizontally, insulators, which now form a rigid V may swing in the direction of theline without breaking or strainso that the ing the parts.

'shown in dotted Clearanoe 5 paces may be further economized by varying the hanging of the insulators, for instance, as shown in Fig. 7. Here 37 indicates a line through the center of insulator '1 hungfrom the horizontal portion of cross-arm 35 and 38 a line through the center of insulator 2 hungfrom a brace 36 oblique to cross-arm 35. This throws the triangle 2? way from the tower, represented by line 43', t as increasin .the clearance. In this case tlie'weight of the conductor, when undisturbed or not subjected to wind pressure, is nearly or wholly on insulator 1, but this tension or pull is small and with/the wind stress across, both insulators are brought substantially equally into play. Should insulator 1, in this instance, brea insulator 2 will swing; into the position blowing toward. the tower, to the position shown in dotted line at 42. In this last position 42, which would oecuronl v atthe rarest intervals, it will be sullicirnt if theclearance is only somewhat-greatcr than the jumping distance of the voltage between line and ground, which, with the highest voltages now in commercial use would not be over ten inches.

l urthermorof, with thearrangcment shown in Fig. 7, ,if the condlu-tor breaks the insulator mils out inthc direction of the line, and tin two insulators divide the strain eqliallytlumgh not in a horizontal plane.

1 It will be soon from the above that. I have provided a double insulator giving the great est flexibility of motion but having 0 material side motion, giving support. to be line in case of either insulator breaking, and with minimum stresses and maximum clearance of the tower. Furthermom, sin c this insulator by its very nature cannot be puncacross or a plate 34, mayv be- Bolt 49 serves to support the lines at 41 or if a wind is cushioning effect on tured and has arcing rims (see my two c0- pending applications for patents referred to above), the presence of two insulators for each )osition is not an electrical menace while it ives a mechanical relay.

A furt ier advantage of the arrangement shown in Fig. Twill, be seen when it is 1e membercd that for 100,000 volts a clearance to ground, in the normal position of equilibrium,-.of about four feet isdesirable. On the other hand with the rare and temporary condition of a broken insulator a clearance of thirty inches will be ample, and this is what the insulator 2 in the position 41 will give; even should there be a wind up to forty or fifty miles an hour toward the tower, the deflection will onlycut the clearance down to perhaps fifteen inches, which is three times the jumping distance of 100,000 divided by =58',00O volts, existing between line and ground,

Furthermore with ment a broken insulator will be very conspicuous and hence easily trolman.

In F ig. 11 l have shown another modification of my invention in which I employ a combination of suspension and strain insulators so arranged as to prevent side swinging. 44 indicates a suspension insulator substantially similar in construction to insulators 1, 2, in Fig. 1; 45, 45 indicate tubes of porcelain or equivalent material carrying metallic caps 46, 46 cemented or otherwise affixed at each end of each tube. 47, 47 indicate similar caps at each end of insulator 44. Each of the respective caps is provided with a. perforated lug 48 to receive suitable bolts as hereinafter set forth. device from hangers 50, 51 carried by cross-arm 4. Insulator 44'1s thus free to swing in the direction of the line but cannot swing across the line. Conductor 3 is carried around beneath insulator 44 and is further insulated therefrom by insulators 45, 45 which are connected together and supported at their inner ends from insulator 44 by means of 'link 52 to which the caps of the respective insulators are bolted as shown. Conductor 3 is hold to insulators 45, 45 by means of clamps 53 carrying to the outer caps of the insulators as shown. 55 indicates a disk or horn of suitable material clam ed to conductor 3 and adapted to take the urning from any are that might start in this loop.

The operation of bination is obvious. The conductor is supported with no side motion and with a limited flexibility with the line, thus giving a shocks and yet not permitting wide swings. If either of insulators 45 break, the conductor is still supported this general arrange.

detected by a padrawbars 54 boltedthis last described comand insulated although the two remaining insulators will swing into line horizontally. 'The disk 55 is laced near enough to link 52 so that it wi 1 form the point where an arc; will start so as to protect the conductor from burning. Part of the strain on horizontal'insulators 45, 45 may be relieved by carrying the conductor through taut as shown in Fig, 13. In this arrangement the insulators 45, 45, may be, given any strain intermediate that due to the strain position and that due to the suspension osition by shortening or lengthenin the ength of the interme iate portion 0 the conductor. This arrangement takes more head room than that shown in Fig. 11, but relieves the insulators of con- 1 ti-nuously heavy strains.

a at an angle to the-horizontal.

The 'tranverse stress on insulator 44 in either the arrangement shown in Fig. 11 or in that shown in Fig. 13 may he relieved by permitting a slight tilt to the insulator under side stress. This may be accomplished by elongating the bolt hole in one or both of the supporting hangers or 51. preferably in that one nearest the tower as shown at 56' in Fig. 12. This means givesa maximum of relief to the porcelain tubes from bending moment for a given sidewise displacement, since the point of support while tilted will be in the left hand portion of lug 48 as at 57.

The same moment can e applied to carry the conductoraround corners, as shown in Fig. 8. In.

this arrangement the supporting hangers 59 are of unequal length and the bolt 49 lies Since the 'resultant direction of the all of the conductor is not nearer than 4- to the/horizontal under any but the most adverse conditions, a 221? tilt of the insulator will greatly reduce the bending moment on the insulator; This insulator is still free to swing in the direction of the line to equalize strains. The insulator shown in Fig. 8 may beused either with or without insulators 45, 45.: Lugs 60,

are intended to serve to give a central hold on the caps at the ends of the insulators where convenient and assist in taking some of the strain, as in Fig. 8. The bolt hole in hanger 59 may also be somewhat elongated, as shown at 56 in hanger 51 (Fig.

12% in which case strains nearly horizontal wil be somewhat less severe on the i-nsulator and, more important still, the insula- -tor then acts as though the center of the swin were on the left'hand hanger 58 whic will give equilibrium with less movement to the side. The arrow in Fig. 8 indicates the general direction of side pull from the conductor.

Fig. 9 shows a modification of the arrangement'show-n Fig. 8, wherein the hanger rinciple of relief from bending is all in one iece and swiveled to supporting bolt 61.. ductor break, the insulator can pull out in the direction of the line, even at a pole where the conductor is turned at an angle and thus relieve it of all bending strains.

Fig. 10 shows a furthermodification of the arrangement shown in Fi s. 8' and 9. In this plan the hanger is ma e so that it can tilt through a'definite angle in either direction and will then resist side motion. It may also be swiveled to bolt 62, bin held and guided by a hemispherical bloc 63'on the cross-arm 4, fitting into a correspending recess in the-hanger, aslot 64 in the hanger permittin the hanger, as a whole, to tilt around t 1e bolt 62. "In many cases it IS desirable to have the towers, insulators and conductors so arranged as to permit the use of a very narrow right of way. Such a scheme is shown .in Figs. 14, 15 and 16. Here I have kept down the maximum width of the towers and right of way by setting a limit to the swinging of the vertical element of 'a'combined insulator and by carrying the conductors near together and looping the, jumper around the tower.

The complete insulator is in three parts similar to the device shown and described in connection ,with Fig. 11, each consisting of a tube with'a conductin connecting piece at each end. Insulator i4 is hun verti- "cally by two links65, 65 support in U- bolts 66, 66 on. the cross-arm 4, the links lying in and being movable in a plane transverse to the line. Insulators 45, 45- are eonneeted to plate 67 by interconnectin links 68, 68 and 69, 69, links 68 being bo ted to late 67 and links 69 being carried by-eycs in the caps at the inner ends of insulators 45, 45 similar tothe means shown at 7, 9 in Fig. 1. The links are loosely connected together by interlocking eyes as shown. In su ators 45, 45, as shown, are thus inserted between the ends of conductor3 in the adjacent s ansyand thebottom of insulator 44, the atter then acting as the common point of support.

- The connection U-bolts 66, the links being restricted ainst vertical movement in the U-bolts by suitable .ith this plan should the coni formed by links as and tion .is required the links resultant pull on the-conductor is 30 down- If a less deflecshould be shortened or theU-bolts separated further. -This scheme is advantageous as the forces vary as continuops functions and no dead stop is reached.

ward from the-horizontal.

a horizontal plane or substantially so, an if the horizo tal insulators 45, 45, are made to extend beyond the edge of the tower near the cross-arms, it is possible to place the vertical insulator 44 near the tower and still have a ood clearance from conductor to tower. prevents the jumper from being brought too near the tower or the cross-arm.

The connection between the inner ends of the three insulators should usually be made to permit the vertical insulator to swing in the direction ofthe line without binding. The arrangement shown is very eil'ective as where two links, treme deflection with the line will not bend the connection.

W'hcre, in the specification and claims, I refer to the insu atois arranged in parallcl I means such an arrangement as is shown in Fig. 1 for example where the insulating elements 5, 5 are arranged in multi ple, end to end, while the insulators 1 and 2 as a whole, are arranged in double form, side by slile, i. in parallel.

It is obvious that the drawings and foxegolng description are merely illustrative of the neral broad principles of the invention and that the details of construction and arrangement shown may be widely varied without departing from the principles of the invention.

W'hat I claim and tcrs Patent is:

1. A means for supporting electric conductors comprising a support, and multiple insulators constructed to resist tension and compression arranged in parallel and having separated pivotal connections to said support constructed to provide for longitudinal movement of the conductor and restricted transverse movement.

2.-A means for supporting electric conductor's comprising a support, and depending multiple insulators conitructed to resist desire to secure by Lettension and compression arranged in parallel and having separated ,pivotal connections to said so port constructed to provide for longitudina movement of the conductor and restricted transverse movement.

but the swing of the The jum lagr .70 is shown as eatending in he limited side swing of the line- 68, 69, are used, an ex- 3. means for supporting electric condoctors comprising a support, a pair of m- 'sulators arranged side by side and pivotally connected with the support at points spaced from each other, a link connecting the other ends of the insulator and means permitting the insulators to have free movement in the direction of the line but restricted movement across the line.

4. A means for supporting electric condoctors comprising a support, a pair of msulators arranged side by side and pivotally connected witlrthe support at omts spaced from each other, a link pivota ly connected (1 to theothcr-ends of. each of said insulators and shorter than the distance of said points of support from each other and means permitting the insulators to have free movement in the direction of the line but restricted movement across the line.

5. A means for supporting electric conductors comprising a support including a horizontal and an oblique portion, a pair of insulators arranged side by side, one of said insulators being connected to' the horizontal and one to the oblique portion of the suport and a link connecting the other ems of the insulators together, the link being shorter than the distance b tween the points of so ort of the insulators.

6. ll cans for supporting electric conductors comprising a support, a hanger carried thereby, an insulator directly connectc to but loosely carried by said hanger,means associated with said hanger for limiting vertical movement of said insulator relative to said hanger and means mounted on the lower end of said insulator for carrying said conductor.

7. Means for supporting electric conductors comprising a support, a pair of insulators arranged in parallel, a hunger for each insulamr mounted on said support, a pivotal connection hanger, means associated with the hangers for limiting the vertical movement of the insulators relative thereto, a link connecting the lower ends of the lllSllllltOlS and means for carrying the conductor mounted on said link.

8. Means for supporting electric conductors comprisin" a support, a pair of insu lators arranger in parallel, a hunger for each insulator mounted on said support, a pivotal connection between each insulator and its hun ely lneans associated with the hangers for imiting the vertical movement of the lush loosely connected to the lower ends of said insulators and joining them together and means for carrying the conductor mounted on said link.

9. In means for supporting electric condoctors a support, a hanger mounted therebetween each insulator and itson obliquelyto'said support, an insulator for arrying the conductor and means for mounting the insulator on the hanger.

' 10. The eombination withva support, of a high tension'line "conductor" supported at a distance therefrom, an insulator comprising a body constructed tomesist tension and com ressionj and having eonnectionsrespective y to said support and said eonductor; the connection between said insulator and saidsupport'including pivotal means eonmg witnesses.

.structed to proirid ej for longitudinal and "restricted transverse movement of the con.- duetor; and the conduetor being. trans 15 In testimony whereof I havesigned this specification in the presence of two subser-ib versely pivoted to the insulator.

PERCY H. THOMAS.

Witnesses:

SEABURY C. MASTXGK, HENRY J. LUOKE. 

